Fundamental to instruction on a keyboard musical instrument is the learning of the positions of the keys corresponding to the musical notes on the keyboard. Music notation consists of a unique set of graphic symbols. Within this set are symbols indicating the frequency or pitch of a note. On a keyboard instrument, each key corresponds to one of these pitch symbols. As in learning the alphabet, learning to correlate pitch symbols with actual keys on the instrument is a memorization task. Due to the unrewarded drudgery of memorizing note positions, many students bypass this phase of the learning process and instead rely on guessing or playing "by ear." This same phase is additionally a drudgery for the music teacher, who must delay more interesting musical aspects until the note positions are learned.
Recent reductions in the cost of LSI devices have made practical the electronic game. Typical of such games are devices which connect to the antenna terminals (RF input) of a television set. The television provides visual and audible stimulus and the users participate by manipulating switches, joysticks, etc. Games range from football, baseball, etc. to conventional and unconventional battle both on earth and in outer space. By teaching keyboard note correlation in the form of the popular electronic game, memorizing becomes enjoyable. Furthermore, the student is stimulated by a point scoring system which allows him to compete against himself or other students.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a teaching device in the form of an electronic game which enables the student of a keyboard musical instrument to learn the positions of the keys on the keyboard as they correspond to the positions of the notes on a musical scale.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an audio-visual teaching device which enables the student of a keyboard musical instrument to correlate the positions of the keys on the keyboard with the positions of the notes on a musical scale.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to present a form of teaching device which stimulates the interest of the student in learning the correlation between note symbols on a musical scale and the keys on a keyboard while allowing that student to learn at his or her own speed without the need for the presence of an instructor.
Another object of the present invention is to stimulate the interest of the student in learning to play a keyboard musical instrument by providing a teaching device having the format of an electronic game such that the teaching device quizzes and scores the student on his or her ability to identify the corresponding key on the keyboard to a note on a musical scale.
Other objects will appear hereinafter.